Fixing iPod/iPhone error 13213
- September 16th, 2008
- 17 Comments
Looks like there’s a bit of a bug in iTunes 8, with fairly widespread reports of iPhone syncing errors.
After waking up this morning to a dead iPhone, I plugged it in for a quick blast of juice. An error popped up on screen, saying that my iPhone couldn’t be synced. An “Unknown error occurred (13213)”. Unknown error? Nonsense! I poked around the googletubes a bit, and everyone was just saying “turn the iPhone off, restart iTunes, and then plug the iPhone back in.” Been there, done that. Three times, in fact. Still nothing.
So, I thought about the only thing that had changed since it last worked. Right before I crashed for the night, I was playing with the new Genius feature for the first time. Turned it off, and pow! iPhone synced like a charm. I was able to turn it back on without any issue.
If you’re having issues syncing your iPhone or iPod because of “Unknown error (13213)” and the standard power cycling/iTunes restart doesn’t fix it for you, try switching Genius off. To do so, just go to Store > Turn Off Genius.








Chris m. (Who am I?)
2 months ago
thanks mate,
this totally worked for me! I tried rebooting my handset 4 bloody times.
god bless
Jackie (Who am I?)
2 months ago
Worked for me too. Thanks!
Otgrs (Who am I?)
2 months ago
Thanks a ton brother! You saved my life!!
DemSandwich (Who am I?)
2 months ago
Thank you
Eric (Who am I?)
2 months ago
Worked for me. But I also found that despite the error, the iPhone synched just fine.
Will (Who am I?)
2 months ago
Thanks. I couldn’t figure out the issue. This worked for me!
Maria Thompson (Who am I?)
2 months ago
Thanks! I was worried for a minute that my ipod was acting up and I’m not very good at fixing these errors… Thanks so much.
tone (Who am I?)
2 months ago
Good job, saved me a lot of heartache tying to get my new touch to sync. Thanks!
Michelle (Who am I?)
2 months ago
you are a superstar! Husband got an iPhone and I’ve been in charge of setting it all up and this bug was driving me crazy. I did a quick search, found your advice and it’s worked a treat. Thank you!!! xxx
Cookie (Who am I?)
2 months ago
fantastic..
worked like a charm!
cheers.
fred
2 months ago
ingenious…
worked, thanks again!!!
Reply
Do (Who am I?)
2 months ago
I can’t find “turn off genius” in the store. WHERE is it?
Do (Who am I?)
2 months ago
I can’t find “turn off genius” in the store.
Chris m. (Who am I?)
2 months ago
its under “Store” on the menu bar at the top of the screen
Martin B. (Who am I?)
2 months ago
Thanks! This has been bugging me since I got my iPhone. I don’t know why Apple would make a feature that causes sync problems with their flagship product.
ks (Who am I?)
2 months ago
Thanks!! worked like a charm. this seems like a common problem
Amy (Who am I?)
2 weeks ago
Thank you! Your suggestion worked like a charm!